News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Ask HN: How do we stop the polarization/toxicicity filling the web?. Parent comment

Re:Ask HN: How do we stop the polarization/toxicicity fillin... by rlucas on Friday January 31, 2020 @01:58PM (#22204441)
The corollary to this that remains unspoken about the OP's thesis is: because of the mass reach of the major platforms, the "toxic" effects now have escaped being an internet-only phenomenon and now are manifesting in meatspace.

It's overly reductionist to attribute Trump and Brexit just to online trolls, but it's folly to ignore their effect at the margins (because both Trump and Brexit were relatively close calls, influencing a 5% middle ground definitely mattered).

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: How do we stop the polarization/toxicicity fillin... by kazinator on Friday January 31, 2020 @02:07PM (#22204527)
On traditional Usenet there is a kind of unspoken rule about never taking online disputes offline. Everyone was supposed to understand that it's just a game.

A good portion of the ragamuffins who are overflowing the online world have not such concept. Everything is personal.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: How do we stop the polarization/toxicicity fillin... by jjtheblunt on Friday January 31, 2020 @02:06PM (#22204511)
"meatspace" : what an apropos description
[ Parent | on HN ]